Man to try to face alleged attackers

Warren Blackmon's physical wounds have healed, but it's going to take at least another year of therapy before the Athens developer can talk business at the fast clip he's used to.

And Blackmon hopes he will find the courage to visit the Clarke County Courthouse on Wednesday and face the two men accused of beating him unconscious as he after he left a downtown restaurant early June 25.

"I am thankful to be alive and thankful to be living in Athens because of the wonderful EMTs who saved my life and the police who captured these guys," Blackmon said Monday. "I just hope that people don't (avoid) downtown because I think what happened to me was an isolated incident."

All he can recall from that night was he left Harry Bissett's New Orleans Cafe & Oyster Bar about 12:20 a.m. and was walking toward College Square to catch a cab ride home.

"I was walking toward The Arches when I heard a dog barking," Blackmon said. "I turned around to look, and I saw these guys jump up from behind the Taco Stand guardrail. I don't remember anything after that."

But according to police, two drifters from Lynchburg, Va., who had been panhandling and harassing passersby, shoved Blackmon to the ground and began kicking his head and body. He suffered a broken nose and was stomped so hard that boot prints were left on his face and back.

Blackmon, 58, remained unconscious for a day and stayed in a hospital intensive care unit a few more days.

Bleeding of the brain caused what doctors described as a "stress stroke," which left him temporarily unable to talk.

"I've been working with a speech therapist, and I can talk pretty well now, but not as fast as I used to," Blackmon said. "My friends say that's a blessing because now they can get a word in edgewise."

Investigators identified Blackmon's attackers as James Alexander Fluker, 24, and Matthew Chris Freemen, 22, both of Virginia, but by the time police took out warrants charging them with aggravated battery, they skipped town.

They were arrested July 3 in Raleigh, N.C., and held on the Athens-Clarke police warrants, but they fought extradition.

A Clarke County grand jury two weeks later indicted Fluker and Freeman each on two counts of aggravated battery and one count of aggravated assault. Local prosecutors won the extradition fight, and the men were brought back to Georgia on Friday.

Fluker and Freeman are scheduled to appear at a bond hearing at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday in Clarke County Superior Court.

"I don't know if I'll be too nervous, but I will try to be in court so I can face the men who did this to me," Blackmon said.

"The main thing is I would hope that the public uses me as an example of how you need to be aware when they go out at night, even in downtown Athens, which we all so love," he said.

"Like my mama always told me, if you're out after 12 o'clock, nothing good will happen, so I've promised my friends I would try to get home by 9:30 from now on."